Smart cards, checks with optical characters and magnetic stripe cards are in widespread use. The readers for these cards, of course, also are in widespread use. The ubiquitous magnetic stripe reader includes a slot into which a card is moved, for example, by hand past a read (and possibly write head) to obtain the user and bank identification number.
The smart card contains a microprocessor chip and memory and is capable of storing a far greater amount of information about participants in a commercial transaction. But the reader for such a card is more complicated and requires that electrical contacts be made between the reader and electrodes on the card.
Recently, readers have appeared which are capable of reading both types of cards. The most familiar of these readers is of the insert type where a card is inserted into a slot where it resides during the transaction. The reader is capable of responding to the insertion of the card to ascertain the information recorded there. In one instance, electrical contacts are pressed against an inserted card in positions to contact electrodes on the card if such electrodes are present. If no electrodes are present, of course, no contact is made and the positions of the contacts are irrelevant. The reader also has a magnetic head positioned to read a magnetic stripe if it is present. If a card is both a smart card and a magnetic stripe card, the reader has the capacity to read information from both recording systems and to relay information to a controller or computer.
It is to be noted that magnetic stripe information is captured by moving a card with respect to a read head whereas information is obtained from a smart card over time while the card is maintained in a secure position. Consequently, a smart card presently is locked in position by a resident locking device while a magnetic stripe card is positioned under user control and not captured. A resident locking device has been found inadequate to seat the smart card for proper operation thus leading to data errors.